Hello everyone! It's another new month and with that comes a new Author of the Month. This will consist of a post that includes an interview with the chosen author, along with featuring them in my sidebar for that entire month. New feature I started on my blog in September (Refer HERE if you would like to see the original post & if you would like to be apart of this as an author).
This author I have had once on my blog before back when this feature first started. Since then She has become a USA Bestselling author and has finished one complete series. She has a new book coming out Jan 10th...
This author I have had once on my blog before back when this feature first started. Since then She has become a USA Bestselling author and has finished one complete series. She has a new book coming out Jan 10th...
January's author is Elise Kova
About the Author
About the Author
Elise Kova has always had a profound love of fantastical worlds. Somehow, she managed to focus on the real world long enough to graduate with a Master’s in Business Administration before crawling back under her favorite writing blanket to conceptualize her next magic system. She currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and when she is not writing can be found playing video games, watching anime, or talking with readers on social media. She is the USA Today bestselling author of the Air Awakens Series as well as the upcoming Loom Saga (Keymaster, 2017).
Connect with her on:
~Interview Time~
Sabrina: Hello Elise! It is so lovely to once again have you on my blog for “Author of the Month”. I felt it was only fitting since so much has changed since the last time you were on my blog.
Elise: Great to be back and thank you for having me. I feel like everything is constantly changing, lots of exciting things happening, for sure.
Sabrina: My first question for you pertains to the Air Awakens series, how does it feel to have that whole series released?
Elise: It’s a bit, odd? Something I’d been keeping for so long is out there now for anyone to enjoy whenever they want. It’s also really refreshing because whenever I return to the Air Awakens world now, I’m moving the story forward in a way that I haven’t been able to before by telling new parts of the story -- like the Golden Guard.
Sabrina: Was it ever challenging to meet your deadlines to keep up with the 3-4 month release of that series?
Elise: For sure. It helped a lot that the series was already finished going into it. But it required such extensive edits and rewrites that I felt like I was writing the books all over again. The fifth book was the hardest, as 100% of that book ended up being rewritten.
Sabrina: The Air Awakens series was originally published on Fictionpress, were a lot of changes made to the last two novels?
Elise: The fundamental elements of the story didn’t change. So, the ending didn’t change, major character deaths didn’t change, etc. I made this decision on the onset with the idea of staying true to my story and not letting publication influence what I wanted to tell. But a lot of the pacing changed between those major events and a lot of HOW they came to happen was altered.
Sabrina: Now, can we briefly talk about the new cover for the digital box set? Where did it come from? Was it talked about that you wanted a new cover, or did your amazing cover artist Meril just do it on her own? Also would you ever think about making second covers for the whole series?
Elise: I wanted something new for the boxed set, a sort of “overall artwork” that really summarized the series and would catch people’s eye. When it comes to Air Awakens, Meril does such an amazing job with the covers that I was very excited to reach out to her and ask her to do this between Golden Guard covers. I gave her almost no direction on this one and it’s one of my favorite pieces she’s made to-date. I love it so much I almost feel guilty that it’s just on the digital boxed set!
As far as second covers… yes, I would consider it IF the series got a mass market republication. If a publisher was taking it to market they would likely want to repackage it to attract a new audience and separate the series from when it was a self-published work for bookstores. But, IF that happened I’d be sure to let everyone know with as much notice as I could, because I know how important matching covers are.
Sabrina: With the Air Awakens series being fully out, for the past couple of months we have all been hearing about The Alchemists of Loom, your new series. Could you tell me a little bit about the way you approached this series that was different from Air Awakens?
Elise: The biggest difference in my approach was the level of planning I did before embarking on The Alchemists of Loom. I knew I was writing to publish, and having written and edited one fantasy series I knew a bit more of what “publication” took along the way. So I spent about 6-8 months planning The Alchemists of Loom before I wrote my first word. I looked at the world and made sketches and drafted concepts. I had so much fleshed out that by the time I started in on the first page I really knew what direction I needed to take and where I was going to end up. Some things still evolved organically, but it was a smoother writing experience overall.
Sabrina: What made you decide to go with a more traditional publisher this time around and how does it feel to be a Hybrid author now?
Elise: There are pros and cons to traditional publishing and pros and cons to self publishing. One of the pros of traditional publishing is the ability to get into bookstores and have lower print costs due to a mass print run. I was excited to give my books this reach and have some perks - such as accessibility - pass onto my readers in the process. The biggest pro of self-publishing is the control you get, but my publisher still granted me a fair bit of that -- more than most authors -- so it worked out really well as a partnership.
Sabrina: Could you share with us one of you favourite quotes from The Alchemists of Loom that you are proud to say you wrote it?
Elise: “... a mind imprisoned was not a mind that could think great thoughts.”
Sabrina: For the Air Awakens series, you ended up making a tea; which if I may add was so lovely and very insightful on new teas to try. Would you ever consider making a tea guide for The Alchemists of Loom? If so what would be one tea on that least?
Elise: Lavender London Fog. It’s one of my favorite teas… Lavender, because Arianna’s eyes are purple. A London Fog in general is a black tea, which makes me think of Loom and the guild marks -- done in black tattoo ink, with steamed milk - the “Fog” part. Of course, being a steampunk world, Loom can be quite foggy.
Sabrina: Will there be lots of travelling in store for you this coming year? Any places you are already very excited to visit?
Elise: I’m painfully afflicted with Wanderlust, so one way or another I will be traveling! I have Hamilton tickets in January, so I’ll be up in New York City then. I’m also really excited to, at some point, make it back out to the San Francisco Bay area to visit my sister. I also have plans to head back to Japan for a bit, visit with my friends and see the places I used to spend my time... And I’m hoping to make it across the pond and head to Europe, at some point.
Sabrina: Thank you so much for being a guest on my blog once again. You are always so lovely to interview and chat with. Since I am fortunate to say that I have read The Alchemists of Loom, I am very excited to see how everyone takes to it! I can’t wait to commence the fangirling with everyone. It’s always a pleasure to have you here, thanks again
Elise: Thank you! I really hope everyone enjoys it. But, if not, as I always say, there are more books on the proverbial shelf.
Purchase any of Elise Kova's books here:
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